Category Archives: Iowa Miscellaneous

Jul 09

Randalia has disincorporated

Posted on Tuesday, July 9, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The 897th-largest town in Iowa isn’t a town anymore. KCRG reports that Randalia, in Fayette County, officially unincorporated on June 30. The town’s population was 84 in 2000, but had fallen to 50 in 2020. The story said that to … Continue reading →

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Jun 07

The kolach inflation index

Posted on Friday, June 7, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

For the first time in five years, St. Ludmila’s Catholic Church in Cedar Rapids is having a real kolach festival. There was no celebration in 2020 or 2021 (but there were sales), and 2022 was somewhat but not quite normal. … Continue reading →

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May 31

The sign of ‘Freedom’

Posted on Friday, May 31, 2024, at 11:00 AM by Jeff

I wrote something last week that starts with something very much in my zone but goes a little beyond it. I wouldn’t suggest extrapolating it too much into my thinking of things. It got picked up by the Iowa Capital … Continue reading →

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May 20

My trivia night with Iowa PBS

Posted on Monday, May 20, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Where are both Captain James T. Kirk and Thomas Jefferson key to a trivia quest? In Iowa, of course!

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May 10

Jeopardy Masters? More like Jeopardy minors

Posted on Friday, May 10, 2024, at 10:06 AM by Jeff

James Holzhauer, the worst Jeopardy villain of all time, and Matt Amodio, possibly the third-worst Jeopardy villain of all time, both had no answer for this clue last week: This state is not famous as a source of jazz talent, … Continue reading →

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May 03

ISU and the Lincoln Highway

Posted on Friday, May 3, 2024, at 10:30 AM by Jeff

Here’s my investigation into the Lincoln Highway’s history as it relates to the Iowa State campus in Ames. (whoops, forgot to set a draft to live)

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Apr 26

Iowa border history, with a focus on the Iowa Great Lakes

Posted on Friday, April 26, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

Arnold Garson of the Iowa Writers’ Collaborative wrote a Substack post last week about how the Iowa Great Lakes almost didn’t figure in to the state of Iowa. His writeup touches on the paired-states issue before the Civil War (slave … Continue reading →

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Apr 08

An early RAGBRAI LI correction

Posted on Monday, April 8, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

The RAGBRAI map and pass-through town list was not unveiled until April (a first) and on a weekday (another first). It ran in the Des Moines Register both online and in print on April 4 (and was off the website’s front … Continue reading →

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Mar 05

More about College Township

Posted on Tuesday, March 5, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

In early 2021 I wrote about “Western College” in southern Linn County and how that connected to the short-lived Leander Clark College in Toledo. Now the Gazette’s “Curious Iowa” series has a feature on College Township with more history about … Continue reading →

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Feb 16

You want fat? Let’s get fat

Posted on Friday, February 16, 2024, at 10:00 AM by Jeff

I wrote about food! Specifically, I wrote about the tradition of churches inviting people to come eat a certain type of food at a variable date in February.

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